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Ukraine’s ex-foreign minister backs Trump on defense spending, warns diplomacy with Putin is nearly exhausted
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EXCLUSIVE – NATO members committed Wednesday to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035, heeding President Donald Trump’s calls for the transatlantic military alliance to take more steps to bolster its security.
Ukraine’s former Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Fox News Digital the move is a big, immediate win for Trump and would be a significant win for Europe’s future if it takes the increase in defense spending seriously and begins to deliver on the commitment.
«This is a serious lesson that Europe will have to learn. Not only investing, but also spending. Spending in a way that will allow them to show to the public that they’re making a good investment in their security and their economies and to send a message to their enemy: do not dare to attack us because we are ready, we are prepared to strike back,» he said.
NATO SECRETARY GENERAL SAYS EUROPEAN COUNTRIES HAVE TO DO ‘MUCH, MUCH MORE’ TO INCREASE DEFENSE SPENDING
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba takes part in a press conference on the Fourth Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen on June 18, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Digital, Kuleba bluntly assessed the state of Russia-Ukraine peace talks, arguing the current diplomatic process is «dead.»
Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated attacks on Ukraine in recent months, targeting Kyiv with large-scale missile and drone attacks.
The Russian strongman has refused to agree to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire proposed by the United States and its European allies earlier this year.
At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in mid-June, Putin said he considers the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one. «In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours,» he told attendees to applause.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the plenary session of the 28th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum SPIEF 2025 onJune 20, 2025 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. (Getty Images)
Trump has held off on imposing additional sanctions on Moscow, preferring to wait and see if his diplomatic efforts will bear fruit.
«Putin does not feel any pressure. And therefore, he does not really get why he should change his behavior,» said Kuleba. «I’m afraid diplomacy has zero chance to succeed at this stage under these circumstances, which means that there will be more killings and more destruction.»
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Putin’s goals remain clear: «He wants all of Ukraine.»
Zelenskyy attended the G7 summit in Canada last week, meeting with world leaders and securing nearly $2 billion in aid from Prime Minister Mark Carney. His meeting with Trump was canceled after the U.S. president left Kananaskis early, citing escalating tensions in the Middle East due to the Israel-Iran conflict.
(L/R) European Council President Antonio Costa, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Union President Ursula von der Leyen at the G7 summit in Canada (Government of Canada / Pool /Anadolu via Getty Images)
The two met on the sidelines of the NATO summit on Wednesday and discussed the purchase of American air defense systems.
Kuleba told Fox News Digital that Trump is well-positioned to end Russia’s war. «His disruptive approach, his readiness to make rapid and strong action — these are the things that are needed to bring two sides to first, [the] negotiating table, and then to an agreement.»
The Ukrainian diplomat explained that the U.S. needs to reshuffle three things to revitalize the negotiating process: sticks, carrots and the pressure of time.
Kuleba said Trump created the pressure of time by stating he could end the war in 24 hours and calling on both sides to sit down and negotiate.
U.S. President Donald Trump held a press conference after the NATO Heads of State and Government Summit in The Hague, Netherlands on Jun. 25, 2025. (Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«What happened next is that all sticks went to Ukraine and all carrots went to Russia. It has never worked like this centuries ago in the history of diplomacy. It doesn’t work like this, and it’s not going to work like this, OK, because the right way to do it is to create a pressure of time to avoid endless deliberations and to find the right balance of sticks and carrots for each side,» he told Fox News Digital.
RUSSIA BOMBARDS UKRAINE WITH DRONES HOURS AFTER TRUMP ANNOUNCES TALKS WITH PUTIN
Trump and Putin recently spoke by phone on June 14 after Israel struck Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Russian leader said he was ready to continue negotiations with the Ukrainians after June 22, according to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Peace talks in Istanbul have failed to produce much other than prisoner of war exchanges as Putin doubles down on his maximalist demands.
Kuleba said the best thing for Europe to do as negotiations stall is to continue producing and buying weapons, not only for Ukraine, but also for itself.
People watch the clearing of rubble in a destroyed five-story residential building on Jun. 24, 2025, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Rescuers have finished clearing the rubble at the site of a Russian missile strike on a five-story residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv. (Andrew Kravchenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
«For decades, Europe was relying on the United States and was going back and forth with Washington, checking every decision they were going to make, but it’s just not sustainable anymore,» he explained. «They have to learn how to take care of themselves, sorry to say it. The sooner they do it, the better for them, us and everyone else.»
«You cannot build your life knowing that America is paying for my security, Russian gas is paying for my cheap energy prices and [the] socialism that I’m building. And Chinese minerals [are] allowing me to — are paying for my industrial growths. It’s not sustainable. You cannot depend on one player in the most critical fundamentals for your life,» he added.
The European Union proposed an 18th sanctions package against Russia in June, targeting its energy and banking sectors.
EU Commission vice-president, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas (L) and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (R) talk to the media. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
«We want peace for Ukraine. Despite weeks of diplomatic attempts, despite President Zelenskyy’s offer of an unconditional ceasefire, Russia continues to bring death and destruction to Ukraine,» said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas in a joint statement.
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«Russia’s goal is not peace, it is to impose the rule of might. Therefore, we are ramping up pressure on Russia. Because strength is the only language that Russia will understand.»
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Office of Management and Budget (OMB) chief Russell Vought and President Donald Trump are in the midst of mapping out cuts to the federal government after lawmakers on Capitol Hill failed to reach a funding bill agreement early Wednesday morning.
Trump set the stage in the lead-up to the shutdown that the federal government is likely to see staffing and program cuts during the shutdown, adding in a message Thursday to Truth Social that many federal agencies are a «political SCAM.»
«I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,» Trump posted.
HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN
«I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!»
Office of Management and Budget chief Russell Vought and President Donald Trump are in the midst of mapping out cuts to the federal government after lawmakers on Capitol Hill failed to reach a funding bill agreement. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press )
Fox News Digital spoke with Richard Stern, the Heritage Foundation’s director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, Thursday morning to discuss which agencies the OMB chief would likely target for staffing cuts and if such cuts would be permanent.
How a shutdown enables cuts
Stern explained to Fox Digital that there are a pair of overlapping issues that lead to the government’s staffing size. Agencies are required by various laws to provide certain services to citizens. And, separately, appropriation bills set funding floors on how much money an agency has available to spend on staff payroll.
During a shutdown, however, there is a lapse in funding, meaning agencies do not have «payroll floors from the funding bill,» leaving the executive branch with discretion on how to continue providing required services to citizens, he explained.
«Because the funding bills set effective floors per salary spending, that tends to dictate how many people work for the agencies. In the event of a shutdown, the only requirement on the administration is to ensure that the agencies provide the services and whatnot that are required by law. But those laws don’t say you need, you know, 100 staffers to write a grant or only one staffer,» Stern told Fox Digital in a phone interview.
WHITE HOUSE PREPARES FOR ‘IMMINENT’ FEDERAL LAYOFFS AFTER DEMOCRATS FORCE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
«They simply say, you know, ‘There’s a grant program that has to go out the door under XYZ parameters.’ So, in the event of a lapse in funding, it means that the administration … can lay out a plan saying, ‘Hey, look, you know, we think the Department of Education, for example, could do everything it is legally required to do, but do it with 10% of the workforce,’» he continued.
If the administration determines that an agency can fulfill its legally required services to citizens with fewer people, it will subsequently send reduction in force notices, known as RIFs, to staffers. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
If the administration determines that an agency can fulfill its legally required services to citizens with fewer people, it will subsequently send reduction in force notices, known as RIFs, to staffers.
«If the funding was there, and if the funding law required those staff levels, then you wouldn’t be able to RIF,» he said. «But in the lapse of funding, it gives the White House that opportunity.»
Permanent changes to the government are in a gray zone, however, because RIFs would not be able to take effect until after 60 days.
«Once the RIF notices go out, you … legally need to wait 60 days before the RIF notices can be enacted,» Stern continued. «Really the shutdown would have to last 60 days, beyond that, to actually act on the RIFs.»
The Heritage Foundation expert, who also serves as the conservative think tank’s acting director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies, stressed that any staffing cuts are not an example of government «downsizing.»
TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE DEMANDS AGENCIES MAP OUT MASS LAYOFFS AHEAD OF POTENTIAL SHUTDOWN
«It’s not downsizing the activities of agencies,» he said. «It’s not reducing what they make available, what services they provide. It’s simply reducing the workforce that’s providing the same level and the same amount of services.»
Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Getty)
What agencies could be targeted for cuts?
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a gaggle of reporters Thursday that «thousands» of federal employees could be laid off during the shutdown.
«Look, it’s likely going to be in the thousands. It’s a very good question. And that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here, again, is unfortunately having to work on today,» Leavitt said.
Stern pointed to a handful of agencies that will likely be targeted for layoffs, citing agencies that have «mission creeped» their original purview into regulatory issues, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as other agencies, like the National Science Foundation, that handle grant writing for programs.
«Probably the Department of Ed is, is kind of the poster child on this one,» he said. «They’ve been talking about, they quite literally only need 10% or so on the staff.»
He also noted the EPA, Department of the Interior and the Department of Labor could face cuts due to the various agencies’ «mission creep into a lot of regulations that are quite harmful to the economy, that are quite harmful to just American families.»
WHITE HOUSE TELLS FEDERAL AGENCIES TO PREPARE LAYOFF PLANS AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN LOOMS
«EPA over … a decade or so, has mission creeped its jurisdiction into more and more regulatory affairs, that just simply the EPA doesn’t have under a statutory capacity,» he said. «They’re regulating outside of the confines, the charge they were given by law, by Congress. So, EPA is another one of those where that makes a lot of sense to cut a lot of the workforce there. Then, at HUD and Department of Labor you have similar things.»
Stern said the administration likely is also eyeing agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities and certain aspects of the Department of Housing and Urban Development that are charged with «running programs that write grants where there’s an enormous amount of legal discretion on who gets the grant money.»
President Donald Trump said the shutdown presented the opportunity for the administration to carry out layoffs as part of a continued mission to slim down the federal government. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press )
«These grants are not serving some critical, or frankly, constitutional role,» he said, adding the grants often land in the hands of universities and promote «left-wing» ideology on topics, such as transgenderism and climate change.
What has Trump said on federal cuts?
Trump said during various public remarks Tuesday, as the deadline clock began to run dry, the shutdown presented him with the opportunity for the administration to carry out layoffs as part of a continued mission to slim down the federal government and snuff out overspending and fraud. Trump, however, repeatedly has stressed he does not support the shutdown, pinning blame on Democrats.
WHITE HOUSE PREPARES FOR ‘IMMINENT’ FEDERAL LAYOFFS AFTER DEMOCRATS FORCE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
«We don’t want it to shut down because we have the greatest period of time ever,» Trump said from the Oval Office Tuesday. «I tell you, we have $17 trillion being invested. So, the last person that wants it shut down is us.
«Now, with that being said, we can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible, that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,» he continued.
Republicans have pinned the shutdown blame on Democrats, arguing they refused to fund the budget as an attempt to reinstate taxpayer-funded medical benefits for illegal immigrants. Democrats have countered that claim as a «lie» and cast blame for the shutdown on Republicans.
«A lot of good can come down from shutdowns,» Trump added Tuesday. «We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things. But they want open borders. They want men playing in women’s sports. They want transgender for everybody. They never stop. They don’t learn. We won an election in a landslide.»
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Trump’s second administration has spotlighted the size of the federal government as bloated since Inauguration Day, including the president launching the Department of Government Efficiency to weed out potential fraud, overspending and corruption and offering federal employees voluntary buyouts in January to leave their posts before rolling out other RIF initiatives across various agencies.
Fox News Digital reached out to OMB’s office for comment on the anticipated cuts but did not immediately receive a reply.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Elkind and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
donald trump,budgets,white house,government shutdown
Un equipo de paleontólogos de los Estados Unidos y Europa encontraron un fósil en la isla de Skye, en Escocia, que puede redefinir lo que se sabe sobre el origen de serpientes y lagartos modernos.
El hallazgo fue publicado en la revista Nature y consiste en los restos fósiles de una especie que llamaron Breugnathair elgolensis, un reptil que vivió hace unos 167 millones de años. Para sorpresa de los científicos, presenta características mixtas de serpiente y lagarto.
El equipo de investigación estuvo formado por especialistas del Museo Estadounidense de Historia Natural, el Museo Nacional de Escocia y el Colegio Universitario de Londres, quienes extrajeron los restos fósiles de una formación rocosa costera.
Para analizarlos, usaron microscopía, tomografías computarizadas y rayos X de alta potencia en el Sincrotrón Europeo de Radiación.
Esos métodos permitieron examinar en profundidad la morfología interna del animal sin dañar los delicados huesos. Se revelaron detalles inéditos sobre su estructura.
Breugnathair elgolensis no es exactamente una serpiente ni un lagarto moderno. Se trata de un reptil extinto que tenía características de ambos grupos. Poseía dientes curvos y mandíbulas similares a las de las serpientes, pero conservaba un cuerpo corto y patas desarrolladas, como los lagartos.
Los científicos lo ubican en una familia extinta llamada parviraptoridos, un grupo de reptiles primitivos.
El fósil muestra que los rasgos de serpiente y lagarto podían coexistir en un mismo animal, lo que sugiere que las fronteras evolutivas entre ambos grupos fueron más difusas en el pasado de lo que se pensaba.
Los ejemplares de la especie Breugnathair elgolensis vivieron hace aproximadamente 167 millones de años. Su nombre significa “falsa serpiente de Elgol”, y está relacionado con la combinación inusual de rasgos que presenta.
El ejemplar tiene mandíbulas y dientes curvados similares a los de las serpientes actuales, pero mantiene un cuerpo corto y patas completamente desarrolladas, propios de un lagarto.
Los expertos explican que este conjunto de características lo hace único entre los reptiles del pasado. Fue hallado en 2016 por Roger Benson del Museo Americano de Historia Natural y Stig Walsh del Museo Nacional de Escocia, durante una campaña de exploración. El estudio detalla que la preparación y el análisis del espécimen tardaron casi una década, debido a la fragilidad de los huesos y la dificultad para extraerlos de la roca.
El estudio en el Sincrotrón Europeo de Radiación “permitió observar detalles internos del cráneo y la dentadura sin dañar el material”, afirmó Benson.
El análisis evidenció que Breugnathair perteneció a la familia extinta de los parviraptoridos. Hasta ahora, este grupo solo se conocía por fragmentos fósiles dispersos.
El hallazgo mostró que huesos con dientes similares a serpientes y otros con rasgos de gecko, antes atribuidos a especies diferentes, en realidad coexistían en un solo animal.
“El mosaico de rasgos primitivos y especializados que observamos en los parviraptóridos es una muestra de la complejidad de la evolución”, explicó Susan Evans, coautora del trabajo.
La descripción de Breugnathair elgolensis permite describir formalmente a los parviraptóridos como una nueva familia. Antes la clasificación era solo informal.
Durante la época del Jurásico, Skye era un ambiente cálido y húmedo, integrado por archipiélagos, lagos y una amplia vegetación.
En esa zona se han encontrado fósiles de reptiles diversos, peces, dinosaurios y mamíferos primitivos.
El fósil también aporta datos sobre la evolución de los hábitos depredadores en los reptiles. Benson planteó que el origen de las serpientes podría no ser como se suponía, o bien que ciertos hábitos depredadores evolucionaron de manera independiente.
El hallazgo de Breugnathair elgolensis aporta nuevas perspectivas sobre la evolución de los reptiles escamosos y plantea más preguntas sobre el origen de las serpientes.
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